Keyword Conversion

Testing Keywords

Testing Keywords

Importance of Testing Before Long-term Commitment

SEO is more about hard work and sound methodology than some magic formula that will instantly boost up your site’s ranking. Many gurus might not be willing to admit this, especially the ones that made their money when it was easy to obtain good rankings, but it is a hard cold reality. It takes time, effort and having a proper strategy to follow.

Simply put, SEO is all about ranking certain keywords in Google, aiming to achieve the #1 position. It is simple. Yet without proper strategy and research, it can be hard as hell too. Proper research is the key around here - strategy follows next.

So what is the most critical part of the research in an SEO campaign? This is, in fact, Holy Grail for any internet marketing campaign. Without getting this crucial component right, any SEO campaigns that you undertake will fail, even if you have devised an amazing strategy. So what is so important that it defines the success of every campaign? Keywords.

If you think that you already know this and are about to skip this section, stop. Yes, you may know that keyword research is important. Yes, you may also know how to research keywords. You may even own a couple of great keyword research tools. But are you aware that there are two parts in the process of completing good keyword research?

The first part of the equation, as you may already know, is choosing the right keywords which have low competition and a good search volume. There is no magic formula or numbers to dictate what is good and what is bad in terms of competition and volume. It will vary depending on the niche you have selected, the number of competitors you have, how the market is playing out, and your customers and their purchasing process.

Competition isn't about how many indexed sites are out there for the particular search term you are targeting. It is more about how easy it would be to beat the guys in the top 10 positions. Once you have assessed this properly, you've won part of the game.

Common understanding is that the higher the search volume is, the better the search term. However, this is not always the case. For certain keywords, niches and products, lower search volume might be norm since people could be searching that particular keyword only when they are at the final purchasing stage, or the product might be expensive and slow moving by nature. Regardless of the reason, you will need to know your niche and product before you reach a conclusion on right amount of search volume to go after.

Those two complete the first part of the equation in keyword research. What else is left, you wonder? Well, most marketers tend to forget one more element which perhaps is even more important than keyword research. Without it, even if you can find the perfect keyword which has easy to beat competition and high search volume, you are not going to make a cent. So what exactly is it?

Conversion.

All marketers know conversions are important. But a lot of them think that conversions rely solely on site design, content, price, product images and payment pages. That's not wrong, but here is the thing: not all keywords convert.

There are keywords people use to search for information. Then there are keywords people use to purchase things. At different stages of the purchasing process, people look for different information. If you are targeting keywords which are used at the earlier stages of the purchasing process and ranking for them, you will gain traffic but you may also experience very low conversion rates. So how do we know which keyword will help in conversion?

We test. Testing is the key in all marketing. However, unlike in conventional marketing, online marketing allows us to test, analyse, test again, and analyse until we finally reach to optimal results, without having to spend a fortune. So here are some ways for you to test, regardless of your online marketing budget.

Make Use of Web 2.0s

A lot of marketers already use these sites for link building purposes. But you can also use them to test your keywords too.

All you need to do is create Web 2.0 properties on sites such as Webs.com, Wizzley and Squidoo that target the keywords you want to test. Then you rank for them, using whatever methods and strategies you prefer.

One prominent advantage of using Web 2.0 properties is that they are easier to rank with than your own sites. They can absorb pretty much all of the links we throw at them, and the high PR from the parent domain makes it easier for them to rank.

Since they are easier to rank, you can see results in a short amount of time and start to see traffic coming in. After a while, you should be able to see conversion rates from these Web 2.0 sites. Once you get the winners, plug them into your main website, build quality content pages for them and rank them.
What about your Web 2.0 sites? You can use them as high-powered back linking sources on steroids. You are likely to be dominating first page of the search engine results page (SERP) with your main site and the Web 2.0 sites.

Create Satellite Sites

Satellite sites are a lot like Web 2.0 properties. However, unlike them, you really own the satellite sites and have full control over them. Web 2.0 properties can be erased in a matter of minutes and take all your income away with them.

So what exactly are satellite sites? Simply put, they are mini sites with micro-targeted content pages for particular keywords. They might not have a lot of content, and usually only focus on a primary keyword together with one or two more keywords at most.

The easiest way to accelerate your ranking for these satellite sites is to buy aged domains from GoDaddy auctions. Just look for 2+ years old domain in relevant niche and you are good to go. These aged domains cannot absorb as many links as Web 2.0 properties, but you can build backlinks to them faster than new domains and they generally have higher site rankings.

After you rank the keywords you want to test, the rest of the process is the same as the Web 2.0 strategy. Take the winners, and use the satellite sites as valued backlinking sources.

Use Pay Per Click Advertising

Now, this is one viable but expensive way to test. Here is why.

Advantages: You don't need to build any Web 2.0 sites or satellite sites. You don't need to write contents and build backlinks. It's the easiest and fastest to setup and start rolling. Just choose the keywords you want to test, plug them in Google AdSense, wait and see the click-through rates and conversions.

Disadvantages: Cost. Depends on your keywords, the cost to use this method can be mildly annoying to highly prohibiting. Plus you will probably get through a few hundred dollars before you see a substantial sample size that would allow you to determine winning keywords.

This is, no doubt, the fastest way to test converting keywords. But this is just a short term strategy as you are not left with anything once the campaign is finished. If you have used Web 2.0 properties and satellite sites, you will be left with good back linking sources to help in future, which can be invaluable.

So it all depends on you. If you are short on time and have the budget to spend, then go ahead with the PPC testing method. Just remember that you will need substantial statistical data to choose the winners. If you can wait, then Web 2.0s and satellite sites are the way to go. You will gain more insights about your target market, and continue to have valuable backlinks once the testing in complete.